BROADCASTS.com

Our candidate interview series continues this week with Shannon Estabrook, a retired Portland Community College instructor and seasoned political campaigner who has volunteered with Democratic Party campaigns stretching back to Robert Kennedy\u2019s in 1968. Estabrook is now focused on her own campaign for City Commissioner Position 4, and visited us to share her vision of how art and culture fits in to Portland\u2019s future.

3:34 On what art can do for students
\u201c[Art] is what motivates us and it\u2019s what young, 20s, and 30s, and older students can get exposed to and motivate a creativity that perhaps they didn\u2019t even know they had.\u201d

7:01 On what is working
\u201cI\u2019m apprehensive that many of the programs for youth and adults are too costly in the private sector. It\u2019s rare that a family of four can afford tickets to go see the symphony. So I applaud the efforts made by the private sector for concerts in the park in the summer, and bringing art to schools.\u201d

9:36 On the 2015 budget surplus that was not spent on arts and culture
\u201cIt\u2019s shameful in any budget that education and arts and math and science are put on the bottom rung. I can\u2019t imagine what they spent [the budget surplus] for\u2026I\u2019ve taught for over 30 years now. It never ceases to amaze me that they put education at the bottom.\u201d

12:03 On the Arts Tax
I support [the Arts Tax] 100%\u2014I believe in my entire life since age 18 I have never voted down any bond or tax that funds education. I have some complaints that they have made it very complicated for people\u2026it\u2019s punitive to the working poor. However they do need to collect from those who can afford it.\u201d

15:56 On the real estate market and its impact on affordable housing
\u201cI am adamant in the fact that this [housing] bubble will break. You can look back in the 80s, 90s, and 2010 and 2012. It won\u2019t last forever and it\u2019s funny money.\u201d

16:44 On rent control
\u201cI am adamant about supporting [rent control]\u2026 I am all for that. The state is leading the way on that, and Portland needs to follow it. This bubble will drop, and we will get rent control.\u201d

21:47 On how we can encourage access to the arts for a more diverse group of Portlanders
\u201cWe need children, we need youth, we need the elderly\u2026we need all voices. And in that regard we need to have the folks that can afford it help advertise it and help fund it, with no strings attached.\u201d

22:27 On the section of SW 12th downtown, stretching from PSU to Burnside
\u201cI\u2019ve lived in every part of the city, nearly\u2026and I observe. I walk 6-8 miles a day. I love what they are doing on 12th street, I love it\u2026it\u2019s alive with the elderly, children, homeless folks\u2026it keeps our heritage.\u201d